Indegenous Peoples, Landscapes, South Africa, Kafir Kraal, Umlazi River, Natal, Angas

Plate XXVII -

"Kafir Kraal, near the Umlazi River, Natal"

Toned lithograph and hand-colored, heightened with gum arabic

After the drawing by George French Angas (1822-1886)

Lithographer: not named

Clean. Some minor traces of age and use in margins.

Image size 25 x 34,4 cm (ca. 9.8 x 13.5")

George French Angas (1822-1886)

George French Angas was an explorer, born in England in 1822. His family founded a new colony in South Australia, while Angas was sent to business school in London. But he had a remarkable talent in drawing and painting. He rather turned to the arts and studied anatomical drawing and natural history. He was fascinated with the relatively young method of printing: Lithography, and achieved mastery in this field. Before he was twenty years of age he traveled in Europe and published, in 1842, his first book "Rambles in Malta and Sicily". The success of this book assured him of being on the right path. He then went to Australia to join his family and began, as one of the first artists, to paint the South of this hitherto almost unknown continent. Angas kept traveling and published three extremely important books:

"South Australia illustrated" - "The New Zealanders illustrated" and "The Kafirs illustrated in a series of drawings taken among the Amazulu, Amaponda and Amakosa tribes", a very important book with large plates showing warriors and other individuals and tribal groups of people and their habits, villages, landscapes, including views of Cape Town and Durban (small as it was then). The book had a small edition and has to be considered rare!